Obama Iraq Decision Followed Limo Ride Talk With General

By Margaret Talev -
Aug 9, 2014

President Barack Obama’s decision to
approve airstrikes and humanitarian air drops in Iraq began to
come together at nightfall on Aug. 6, between the end of the
African leaders’ summit he’d hosted and a dinner with his wife
and some friends.

During a five-minute limo ride back to the White House from
the State Department with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General
Martin Dempsey, Obama’s fears were confirmed. The offensive by
militants with the Islamic State group had reached a critical
point, according to an administration official who asked for
anonymity to outline the private discussions.

That chat turned into an hour-long meeting in the Oval
Office with Dempsey, Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough and
top national security advisers.

Two White House Situation Room deliberations followed on
Aug. 7 -- a 90-minute session during which Obama was told that a
genocide could unfold without U.S. intervention and later, after
the president broke off to sign a Veterans Affairs bill, a final
two-hour huddle in the afternoon.

“America is coming to help,” he announced in nationally
televised comments that night. U.S. food and water drops were
conducted and then U.S. jets and drones yesterday carried out
three bombing missions in northern Iraq, hitting militant
offensive positions and a convoy.

The plans came together quickly because, as Obama wrapped
up his Africa summit, U.S. intelligence and reports from Iraqis
and Kurdish forces were painting an agonizing humanitarian
picture and raised the prospect of U.S. security risks that the
president couldn’t ignore.

Flood Risk

Iraqi government forces had tried and failed to get aid to
the thousands of minority Yezidis on Sinjar Mountain, amid
reports of children dying and militants raping and killing
members of the religious minority who were trying to flee.

At the same time, the jihadists had forced the Kurds’
Peshmerga militia back from the Mosul Dam and other critical
positions. The advance threatened to reach Erbil, a critical
city and site of a U.S. diplomatic compound and military liaison
center.

A full breach of the dam could send a wave of water
directly threatening, among many other things, the U.S. embassy
in Baghdad to the south.

Obama, who won his presidency in 2008 as an opponent of the
2003 invasion of Iraq, pulled the last U.S. combat forces from
there three years ago. He had been resisting pressure from some
U.S. lawmakers to re-engage as he urged Iraq’s leaders to form a
new, more inclusive government to help tamp down the insurgency
before committing U.S. firepower.

Planning Options

Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Ambassador Samantha Power were patched in by video for portions of Obama’s
discussions this week. Biden also phoned Iraqi President Fouad Masoum and Iraqi Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani to
keep them informed, according to White House statements.

Unlike some past internal debates on foreign policy, these
deliberations weren’t divisive. Instead, the focus was on
precisely how and when to act.

Obama, 53, had quickly decided the U.S. would use military
transports to drop food and water to try to save the lives of
religious minorities trapped on Sinjar Mountain.

He then considered the options for airstrikes on the
militants, approving the plan late on the afternoon of Aug. 7,
after which he announced his authorization in remarks to
reporters at the White House. Obama told aides he wanted clear
delineations: no return to U.S. combat, and limited military and
humanitarian missions in Iraq rather than a broad operation
against the Sunni militant group that could spill across
borders.